William A. C. Goode

by Nor-Afidah Abd Rahman

William Allmond Codrington Goode (Sir) (b. 8 June 1907, Twickenham, Middlesex1–d. 23 September 19862), or William A. C. Goode, was Singapore’s last colonial governor, who served from 9 December 1957 to 2 June 1959. He was also Singapore’s first Yang di-Pertuan Negara for six months when Singapore achieved internal self-government on 3 June 1959. In December 1959, he was succeeded by Yusof bin Ishak, the former chairman of Public Service Commission.3

Early lifeGoode was educated at Oakham School and Worcester College, Oxford.4 In his early career, he worked as barrister-at-law at Gray’s Inn, London.

In 1931, he left for the Federated Malay States, where he served in the Malayan Civil Service in Pahang and Selangor. He was appointed as the assistant financial secretary in Singapore in 1939,5 and subsequently joined the Singapore Volunteer Corps. During the Japanese Occupation (1942 –45), he became a prisoner-of-war and was sent to work on the Death Railway in Thailand.6

In his book, The Singapore Story, Lee Kuan Yew described Goode as such: “[A] big man with rugged features and a broken nose from boxing in his younger days. He had a long upper lip and spoke in a quiet, modulated voice. He had been educated at a public school and Oxford. But one could feel the steel behind the soft voice, his grey eyes and the firm set of his jaw.”7

In 1963, Goode was awarded the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG) by the British monarchy.8

The information in this article is valid as at 2016 and correct as far as we can ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the library for further reading materials on the topic.